Fsbo

There is no doubt that buying a home is a big decision. A home is the most important, and most expensive, single item most people will purchase in their lifetimes, and getting the best deal on a home loan can save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

If your credit is less than stellar, then find a house to buy can be even more of a challenge. While those whose credit is perfect will be likely to qualify for those eye popping low rates advertised by the banks, home buyers with bad credit will have few options and be subject to higher interest rates, higher down payment requirements and higher monthly payments. So, how do you buy a house with bad credit?

One of the most important steps to take if your credit is less than perfect is to get pre-qualified for a mortgage before you begin shopping for a home. While it is important for any home buyer to pre-qualify for a mortgage, it is even more important for those with bad credit. When you pre-qualify for a mortgage loan, you will know up front exactly how much you can borrow. This means that you can tailor your home search to only those properties in your price range. You will not waste time looking at properties that you cannot afford to purchase.

Getting a copy of your free credit report, and trying your best to clean up the negative information, is also an important step to take before you begin trying to find a home and a mortgage. While it is very difficult to remove legitimate negative information from a credit report, it is entirely possible that your credit report contains errors. A recent survey by a consumer rights organization revealed that 7 out of 10 credit reports reviewed contained at least one error. You can get help to repair your credit and improve on your credit score.

The prospective home buyer should be sure to request a copy of their credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Under a new law amendment to ‘Fair Credit Reporting Act’, all consumers are entitled to get one copy of their credit report free each year. Check with the credit-reporting agency to see if you are entitled to one of these free reports. Once you have the reports in hand, be sure to review it carefully and immediately report any errors you find. Cleaning up any problems you find will help improve your credit score and help you get the best possible interest rate and terms on your home mortgage loan. For example, by merely increasing your credit score from 570 to above 620 will lower the interest rate by up to three-quarters of a percentage point!

You may decide to wait for six months to a year to see how your credit score shape up in order to obtain a better interest rate on your loan. However, depending upon the housing prices movement in your area, waiting for more than a year before buying a home may cost your spending 5% to 15% more than what it would cost you today! Therefore, you are advised to consider various factors, housing prices trend and credit score, to find the best time to buy your home.

Once your credit is as good as you can make it, now it is time to start shopping around for the best mortgage loan. While you may not qualify for the best rates, but mortgage loan rates can still vary from lender to lender. Be sure to shop around at local banks, credit unions, savings and loan associations and mortgage brokers. Be sure you understand all the terms and conditions, including any fees or extra costs.

There is no denying that buying a home with bad credit makes finding a mortgage loan more of a challenge. But bad credit is no reason to abandon your dreams of home ownership. Some advance planning and hard work will allow you to buy the home you need, even if your credit is less than perfect.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 5:15 am and is filed under FSBO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Rate this post